Nic Granlund’s race recap of rounds 1,2,3 of the Quad X championship series and round 1 of The Dirt Series at Glen Helen

Posted on February 17, 2016

Nic Granlund

After a successful first time outing with a podium finish at the round 1 of the WORCS series (see Nic Granlund Lands on the Podium at WORCS Round 1 in Taft) Nic Granlund set his sights for his passion of driving on Motocross tracks. Round 1 and 2 of the 2016 QuadX series would be a doubleheader with round 1 on Saturday and round 2 on Sunday. With this being a Motocross style format it meant that Nic would have 4 Moto’s to compete in over the weekend. With only a few minor changes to the settings of the Fox shocks and mounting up a set of smaller GBC mongrel tires on his DWT wheels he was anxious to try out his new Yamaha YXZ1000R on a motocross track. Pulling into the pits Nic realized he would have stiff competition as the reigning Pro UTV champion of David Hagsma was eager to defend his title. After a successful morning practice and a few more tweaks to the shocks Nic was ready.

Round 1 (Saturday)When the green flag dropped Nic would exit the first turn in third place. Within a few laps Nic found himself in second place keeping up with the defending champion. While still learning about shift points and handling of the Yamaha Nic was extremely pleased with finishing on the podium in second place in both Moto’s behind the champion on the first day.

Round 2 (Sunday)Moto 1Green flag drops and with Nic shifting through the gears he got the holeshot going thru turn one in first place. While in the lead Nic got too much traction with his GBC tires and that caused the car to two wheel. Nic’s quick reaction managed to save the car from rolling over but it did allow second place to sneak by. A lap later Nic a caught back up to the leader and while applying pressure the leader made a small mistake allowing Nic to make the pass into first. From there was a few laps of clean driving giving Nic his first Moto win.Moto 2Again Nic got the holeshot but made a mistake in a muddy corner that allowed the champion to slip by. Nic would finish in second place securing another 2nd place podium finish.It was a great weekend with two second place finishes.

QuadX Round 3 (Saturday)With most of the two weeks between rounds the focus was based on dialing in the new Yamaha YXZ1000R. It did not allow for any driving practice but the efforts would pay out in dividends. Got Sand Performance modified and strengthen the roll cage, installed new seats from ProArmor, some shock tuning, a new tune from Weller and changing the Torco racing fluids the Yamaha was ready to go. Again the defending champion was the there and looked ready for a battle.Moto 1It was a tight race for the holeshot and after exiting turn one in 3rd place Nic quickly made some moves and halfway through the first lap had taken the lead. From there it was just a matter of smooth and fast driving to the finish line for the win.Moto 2After a second place start and moving into the lead again he finished in first place securing the overall victory and Nic’s first win of the 2016 season driving the all new Yamaha YXZ1000R.

Dirt Series round 1 (Sunday)It was a fairly uneventful day while the competition was having some mechanical issues Nic had two great Moto’s finishing on the top step of the box in both of them and now adding to the win tally for the 2016 season.

Now the preparations are in full effect to go compete at the UTV world championships in Laughlin Nevada this weekend. This will require a completely different set up and several new challenges for Nic.